Tennessee encourages private cooperation versus government to help with rural broadband

Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) understands a life without broadband internet. In fact, he still doesn't have high-speed internet inside his rural home in Fernvale, the small unincorporated community between Franklin and Leiper's Fork. Rural broadband was a part of Lee's 2018 campaign, and the governor told the organization he planned to follow in the footsteps of former-Gov. Bill Haslam (R-TN) to hand out grants in the state to rural areas that need it most. In the upcoming budget, Lee set aside $20 million for grants to areas in need. But Gov Lee said government couldn't stand as the sole solution to fixing the state's high-speed internet deserts. Instead, he said it should fall on the private sector to fix the issues as long as government created the environment for innovation. Gov Lee said, "We will look at investing into the degree that we can. What I am working on even more is bringing together the stakeholders and figuring out a way to work together to get Tennesseans access. I am asking private and public providers to come together."